W&T Offshore Sets 2006 Capital Budget at $400 Million

W&T Offshore provides an update on its recent operations and exploratory success,
2006 capital and major expenditures budget, a recent acquisition of oil & gas
properties, and first quarter and full year 2006 guidance.

W&T Offshore completed another year with success in its exploration and
development program. During the fourth quarter, W&T Offshore successfully
drilled four exploration wells and three development wells, as listed below.
Additionally, four wells were initiated in 2005 but had not reached total
depth by year-end. Of those four wells, the South Timbalier 230 A-7 and Ewing
Bank 977 #1ST were successful and two wells remain in progress. East Cameron
321 A-28ST3 began drilling in early January and remains in progress at this
time.

For full year 2005, the Company successfully drilled 17 of 22 exploration
wells, which included two of four in the deepwater, and six of seven
development wells; all of which were conventional shelf wells.

"Our 2005 success rate of 77% for exploration wells and 86% for
development wells continues to demonstrate our ability to create value with
the drill bit in the Gulf of Mexico," said Tracy W. Krohn, Chairman and Chief
Executive Officer. "As we remain focused on achieving high rates of return
and a rapid return on investment, the Gulf of Mexico continues to offer
outstanding opportunities for our seasoned professional staff to achieve our
objectives."

Capital and Major Expenditure Budget: The Board of Directors has approved
the Company's capital and major expenditures budget of approximately
$400 million, which includes major expense items, for 2006. The 2006 budget
represents a 30% increase over the announced 2005 budget.

The budget includes 25 exploration wells and seven development wells to be
drilled in 2006. Of the exploration wells, 14 are conventional shelf wells,
four are on the deep shelf, and seven are in the deepwater. All of the
development wells are conventional shelf wells.

"From our substantial inventory of quality projects we have created a
drilling program for 2006 that contains an excellent balance of conventional
shelf projects, which historically generate solid cash flow, coupled with the
substantial upside potential of deep shelf and deepwater projects. Our
ability to consistently achieve high EBITDA margins of at least 77% since
2000, is one of the many reasons we remain committed to the Gulf and confident
of our future success there," continued Mr. Krohn.

Hurricane Update: W&T Offshore is currently producing approximately
190 million cubic feet of gas equivalent (MMcfe) net per day, which represents
78% of the Company's pre-Hurricane Katrina production rate. Currently, the
company estimates that 38 MMcfe per day of additional net production is shut-
in because of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, primarily due to issues related to
field infrastructure and product sales pipelines. W&T Offshore anticipates
achieving pre-Hurricane Katrina production levels in late second quarter.

Property Acquisition: W&T Offshore completed an acquisition of an
additional interest in the Green Canyon 18 Field, which includes Ewing Bank
blocks 988 and 944, and an interest in the Green Canyon 60 Field from BHP
Billiton Petroleum (Americas) Inc. on December 22, 2005, with an effective
date of September 1, 2005. W&T Offshore estimates the acquired reserves, at
the effective date, to be approximately 5.5 Bcfe. The property acquired is
currently producing approximately 1.9 MMcfe per day, net to the acquired
interest.

Outlook: Certain factors affecting these forward-looking statements are
listed in this news release. Guidance for the first quarter and full year of
2006 is shown in the table below. Production and operating expense guidance
is based on the Company's best assessment of when hurricane-affected field
infrastructure and product sales pipelines issues are resolved. The Company
is revising its previous full-year 2006 production guidance to better reflect
the delays caused by the hurricanes, most notably the Pluto project being
moved from the 1st quarter into the 2nd quarter 2006. These statements do not
include the potential impact of any future acquisitions or divestitures that
may be completed after the date of this news release.

For More Information on the Offshore Rig Fleet:
RigLogix can provide the information that you need about the offshore rig fleet, whether you
need utilization and industry trends or detailed reports on future rig contracts. Subscribing
to RigLogix will allow you to access dozens of prebuilt reports and build your own custom reports
using hundreds of available data columns. For more information about a RigLogix subscription,
visit www.riglogix.com.